Friday's multi-sport college and local roundup: W&M bounces back after loss to reach CAA finals; ODU stays alive in C-USA tournament

William and Mary regained its offensive mojo in time to keep its season alive, bolting to a 10-run lead in a 12-6 victory Friday night that eliminated Colonial Athletic Association tournament host UNC Wilmington and advanced the Tribe to the championship round.

The Tribe (34-21) would've preferred to enter the finals as the unbeaten team, but the College of Charleston's Bailey Ober didn't let that happen. In the day's first contest, he pitched a complete game for the win as the Cougars beat W&M 3-1.

Charleston, in its first CAA season, will have two chances to win the title, starting at 1 p.m. The Tribe must beat the Cougars twice -- W&M is 1-3 against them this season, all in the past week.

Home runs by Nick Pappas and Brandon Murray helped Charleston to a 3-0 lead. Josh Smith smacked a home run in the sixth for W&M, but the Tribe got little else.

That changed dramatically against the Seahawks, much to the chagrin of most of the crowd. Michael Katz had three RBI, setting a W&M single-season record with 74.

Four walks and a hit batsman put the Tribe in front during its six-run second inning. W&M's first hit of the game was Nick Thompson's two-run double.

UNCW scored five times in the eighth, getting two runs on Corey Dick's single, to go ahead 5-1. In the bottom of the ninth, Delaware scored twice and still had the bases loaded with none out, but reliever Kelly Secrest escaped the predicament.

Conference USA:Old Dominiongained payback and a crucial victory in its drive for an NCAA tournament berth, holding off Middle Tennessee State 2-1 for its second victory against one loss (to MTSU) at the Conference USA tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Victor Diaz's effective pitching propelled the Monarchs into a 10 a.m. matchup Saturday against Rice, the tournament's top-seeded team and the No. 18 squad in the nation. If ODU wins that game, the Monarchs and Owls will stage a rematch at 5 p.m., with the winner advancing to the championship contest.

Josiah Burney, a senior from Gloucester, singled in the second inning and scored on Brian Beard's two-out single, putting the Monarchs ahead 1-0.

In the third, Brian Bashara doubled, went to third on Tyler Urps' bunt hit and came home on a Nick Walker single for a 2-0 margin.

MTSU's Ryan Stephens belted a home run in the sixth to make the margin 2-1, but the Monarchs held on as reliever Connor Overton gained a save.

Southern Mississippi kept its hometown fans encouraged in the day's other game, ousting East Carolina 3-1.

Southern Miss, in a similar situation to ODU, must defeat Texas-San Antonio twice to reach the championship round.

ACC:

Despite being eliminated from Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title contention when Maryland beat Florida State 5-3, Virginia perhaps improved its NCAA tournament seeding with a 3-2 round-robin victory over North Carolina in Greensboro, N.C.

Derek Fisher’s tie-breaking single in the top of the eighth inning proved the difference for U.Va. (44-12), whose victory clinched the title-game berth for the Terrapins. Maryland, which is leaving the ACC for the Big Ten, hasn't won an ACC baseball title since 1971.

If the Duke Blue Devils beat Miami on Saturday, they will play Maryland in Sunday's 1 p.m. title game. If Miami wins, Georgia Tech will meet the Terps.

Virginia, which had lost three of four, got back on track as Brandon Waddell, Whit Mayberry and Nick Howard yielded nine hits against the Tar Heels (33-25), but combined to strike out 12 batters while walking four and allowed just one earned run.

Maryland scored four runs in the third inning, and Mike Shawaryn made them stand up by shutting out the Seminoles for seven innings.

Georgia Tech (35-25) boosted its hopes for the tournament title and an NCAA bid by blanking Clemson 3-0 as Dusty Isaacs and Sam Clay combined for a shutout. Mott Hyde had three hits, including a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

Atlantic 10:

Anthony Montefusco pitched a four-hit shutout and scored twice as George Mason moved into the command position at the Atlantic 10 tournament, beating VCU 3-0 to improve to 3-0 at the event in St. Louis.

The Patriots (33-20) will have two opportunities in the championship round to take the title and an automatic NCAA berth. Montefusco (9-3) threw 114 pitches and allowed just one runner to third base.

VCU then worked into the wee hours of the morning to oust tournament host Saint Louis, scoring three runs in the top of the 16th to win 8-6.

was playing top-seeded Saint Louis in an elimination game for the right to challenge Mason. The Rams and the Billikens went well past 1:30 a.m.

Women's lacrosse:

Virginia, making its first NCAA semifinal appearance since 2007, lost 16-8 to No. 2 Syracuse(21-2) in an NCAA semifinal in Towson, Md. Alyssa Murray had six goals and three assists for the Orange.

Kelly Boyd and Maddie Keeshan each had three goals for U.Va.

The sixth-seeded Cavaliers finished 12-9, registering three postseason wins against teams that had beaten them in the regular season: Duke, Princeton and North Carolina. Syracuse advanced to the championship game against the winner between No. 1 Maryland and No. 5 Northwestern.

Collins, ranked 32nd nationally coming into the tournament, beat a player who led the Bruins to the team title earlier in the week. Collins next will play seventh-ranked Haley Carter of team runner-up North Carolina.

Harris and Raulston finished 24-7 for the year. They earned the top seed in the tournament through regular-season play, though they had lost to Chao and Yen in the regular season.

Soccer:

Virginia Beach City FC beat RVA FC, a Richmond-based club, 2-1 in Fredericksburg in a National Premier Soccer League game to improve to 2-0.

Minor-league baseball:

International League:

Norfolk surged for seven runs in the ninth inning to break a tie and beat the Gwinnett Braves 12-5 in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Jemile Weeks (3-for-5, two runs) and Quintin Berry (3-for-4 with a home run, three runs and two RBI) starred for the Tides (18-29). Gord Phelps, Francisco Peguero and Xavier Paul each had two hits for Norfolk.

Tides knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa pitched five scoreless innings, walking four and striking out three. Evan Meek got the win with four outs of scoreless relief.

Former U.Va. player Philip Gosselin paced the attack for the Braves (26-20), going 4-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and one stolen base. Brandon Boggs went 2-for-5 with a double, home run, two runs and one RBI.

Eastern League:

Trenton beat Richmond 6-1 in a series opener before 8,626 at The Diamond as two starting pitchers with similar names shined.

The Flying Squirrels' Ty Blach gave up just one run in six innings. But he was upstaged by Thunder left-hander Jeremy Bleich.

Bleich (4-4), a New York Yankees organization pitcher, worked seven sterling innings, blanking the Squirrels on four hits. He walked two and struck out 10 to earn his fourth victory of the season.

Gary Sanchez gave the Thunder a 3-0 lead with a two-run homer in the eighth, and Trenton (26-22) added three runs in the ninth. The Squirrels fell to 23-22.